


discoveries

by tonightthestarsalign



Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, In which the best friend finds out, Not Beta Read, Post canon, cute and sweet tim, in which the roommate finds out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonightthestarsalign/pseuds/tonightthestarsalign
Summary: The cat has to come out of the bag sooner or later. As much as Lucy and Tim would love to stay in their bubble, they can't keep their secret forever. Post canon.
Relationships: Jackson West/Sterling Freeman (mentioned), Tim Bradford & Lucy Chen, Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Comments: 40
Kudos: 170





	1. The Roommate

Jackson trudged up the steps slowly, sighing with every other lift of his feet. Of course the elevator was broken. Everything else had gone wrong that day. He was supposed to be spending the whole weekend with Sterling, both of them finally having matching days off at the same time, but five hours in, they’d gotten in an argument over something as trivial as answering the door when the delivery driver brought their take out. Sadly, it had put an end to their romantic weekend rather quickly.

As quietly as he could, he unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open, not wanting to wake Lucy. It was well after midnight, and he didn’t want to disturb her. He would talk to her in the morning after he had coffee, then lean on his friend’s shoulder for support. Slipping off his shoes to make less noise, a sound pulled Jackson’s focus across the room. The late hour was what made him so surprised to hear laughter coming from behind Lucy’s closed door. He checked his watch again and sure enough, the face read 12:37 AM. He heard her mumbling after that, and when he didn’t hear another voice, he assumed she was on the phone. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d talked on the phone well into the night to an old friend she’d ran into that day. Lucy was friendly and caring in that way. Even if she hadn’t seen you in years, if you were important to her at one point, you still had a place in her heart.

Jackson still decided he’d wait to talk to her in the morning. He didn’t want to interrupt her with his drama when it sounded like she was so happy. That had been in short supply for a time after her abduction. She deserved it where she could get it. With tired bones after a long shift and a fading mind after a long argument, Jackson walked into his room, closed the door quietly and collapsed on his bed without even bothering to change. Sleep wasn’t hard to come by that night.

* * *

“I still can’t believe you of all people did that.” Lucy laughed again as Tim recounted a story from high school, where they had pranked their principal. “You’re such a stickler.”

“I wasn’t always,” Tim replied quietly, his head jostling from its position in her lap every time she laughed. “We had the skills and the means to do it, and we were bored.”

“But taking apart his motorcycle and reassembling it on the roof? That’s more than boredom. And you call _me_ trouble,” Lucy chuckled, absentmindedly running her fingers through his cropped hair. It was beginning to get longer on the sides than he normally allowed. “You need a haircut soon.”

“That’s because you are trouble. Big trouble. And I’m getting it cut on Monday before shift.” Tim reached up and pulled her hand from his scalp, intertwining their fingers and kissing the back of her hand. “Keep doing that and you’re going to put me to sleep.”

Lucy sighed. The domesticity of the situation made her stomach flutter. It had only been six months ago that they had been riding together for her last shift as a rookie together. They had ridden together off and on since then, as the TOs were waiting for another batch of rookies to come out of the academy, which was closing in faster than either of them would like. Tim was also waiting for another sergeant’s position to open up. She couldn’t believe it when he’d passed up his for sure opportunity to finish her training. She could now.

How had they gotten to this point? She could sort of pinpoint when her feelings had fully started to develop for Tim. Things had slightly changed when he had been in danger of having hemorrhagic fever, but they had fully shifted after her abduction by Caleb. Everyone else had tried to get her to forget it, but he’d been a friend during the entire healing process, pushing her to, not get past it, make peace with it. Things had slowly taken a turn between them after that. It hadn’t become fully romantic until two months after she’d graduated to PO II.

They’d all been hanging out at the bar after shift, celebrating a big drug bust earlier in the day. Tim and Lucy had volunteered to go get their second round of drinks. While they were waiting for their drinks, Lucy decided to make small talk.

“How are things with Rachel?” Lucy asked, smiling over at him. “It’s been so crazy, any time I talk to her; our conversations are usually pretty short.”

Tim had been about to open his mouth to say something when Angela walked up. “Rachel? Are you guys back together?” She asked, signaling the bartender for something. Tim’s face immediately dropped.

“Back together?” Lucy asked, having a hard time believing what she was hearing. Surely, Tim would have told her.

“Yeah. You know they broke up like what? Five months ago?” She asked, looking to Tim for confirmation. The way her face dropped told Lucy what she needed to know. Lopez stepped away from the bar, walking backwards toward their table. “I’ll get food later.”

“Well?” Lucy huffed, looking to Tim to deny it. When he looked back at her almost like a puppy that had been kicked, a look she never thought she’d see on Tim Bradford, a feeling of anger boiled up in her. “I gotta go.” Walking over to their table swiftly, she grabbed her bag, lamely claiming that her stomach hurt and she would see them the next day.

 _Why didn’t he tell me? Did he think I couldn’t handle it?_ Her mind was racing. Anger, frustration, and betrayal coursed through her veins, and it was frightening how out of control she felt with her emotions. What was even more frightening to her was the tiny voice in the back of her head that she had felt joy at the news. After everything they had been through together, she’d done everything she could to tamp down her feelings in favor of her friend. She wasn’t the kind of person to wreck a home when she’d been cheated on herself. Then to find out they hadn’t been together for five months? Those feelings started to bubble to the surface, mixing with the anger.

The sound of her engine sputtering pulled her out of her thoughts, only adding to her frustration. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Her car had enough momentum to pull it over to the side of the road. “Damn it!” She hit the steering wheel before flinging her door open and grabbing her bag. She was only a few blocks away from her apartment. She could walk the rest of the way, deal with her car tomorrow, and maybe get rid of some of her anger.

That plan was foiled when she heard the familiar roar of a truck as she got halfway down the block. Lucy couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Of course, he had to follow her and have the last word. He couldn’t let her fume in peace.

As soon as she heard the truck engine cut off and heard his door open, Lucy was ready to try and get rid of him. “I have nothing to stay to you until at least tomorrow.” When she whipped around, she expected him to be angry, but all she saw was him leaning against the front of his truck with his hands in his pockets, almost resigned. Lucy didn’t know what to do with a calm Tim; she had been expecting anything but that. “Did you think I’d be upset or something? That I couldn’t handle it? And don’t take this reaction into account. I’m angry at the fact that you didn’t tell me. I’ve talked about her since your break up that was apparently five months ago?”

Tim sighed, kicking off of his truck to walk up to her on the sidewalk. “You were already going through so much, Boot. I know that it’s a shit excuse, but at the time, when it was all fresh, it made sense in my mind.”

“Tim, you of all people should know that you don’t have to handle me with kid gloves! I could have handled it. I’m an adult, and I’m your friend,” Lucy said, starting to deflate a little bit. She started to think Tim knew her better than she did, and she just needed to air it all out. “You could have come to me to talk about it.”

Something flashed across his face, like he wanted to say something, before his old walls went back up, and Lucy was frustrated again. “Why? So you could psychoanalyze the situation?”

Lucy let out a breath, his word feeling like a hit to the gut. “No! So you didn’t have to go through it alone. You didn’t let me go through my shit alone. The least I could have done is repay that in kind, but you’re so damn stubborn, you can’t accept any help.” She turned to start walking back down the sidewalk. “Why couldn’t you have just told me?”

“You’re the one person I couldn’t talk to about it,” Tim muttered quietly, turning back to his truck.

Lucy was walking away but she didn’t miss what he said. Turning back, she stalked over to his truck, slamming the door as he opened it. “Why? Why couldn’t you talk to me?” She had to know why she was just now finding out the friendship she thought they had was one sided.

“Damn it, Lucy! I couldn’t talk to you about it, because I care about you! I care about you too damn much, way more than a TO should care about his rookie. That’s why Rachel and I broke up,” Tim said frustratingly, his voice lowering as he finished speaking. He leaned back against his truck door, looking up at the sky. “Because you were all I cared about.”

The words floored Lucy; her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She had had feelings stir for Tim long ago, pushing them down because it was the right thing to do for her friend and her career. He had been her direct superior at the time, and, while he was still her superior, her career was no longer in his hands. All the lingering stares, the check-ups, the encouragements, the smiles and laughter that she never saw around anyone else started to add up. Did he mean it in the same way she felt? There was only one way to find out.

Moving to stand in front of Tim, Lucy moved up onto her tiptoes, taking his face in her hands and pressing her lips to his. He didn’t even give her a second to doubt before his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her in as close as he possibly could. They both poured all the pent up want, frustration, and feelings into the kiss. Lucy’s heart was soaring, and all the feelings of betrayal and confusion melted away.

Tim was the first to pull away but still kept his arms looped tightly around her waist. Resting his forehead against hers, he let out a shuddering breath. “What are we doing here, Boot?”

“I thought it was pretty obvious,” Lucy said quietly, pulling her face back slightly to look into his eyes. No matter how this went, this was the most sure she had been about anything. “I know it’s scary, and there’s a lot of unknown that goes with this. But I think this could be something worth exploring.”

“I’m your TO, Lucy. People wou—” Tim started.

“You _were_ my TO. I’ve been on my own for two months. We don’t have to tell anyone until we need to. We don’t have to even put a label on it until we’re sure it’s something.”

Tim looked into her eyes and could see how sure she was. Lucy had turned into the woman and cop he knew she could be, and the determination in her eyes was something she had had from the beginning. In any other circumstance, if they had met any other way, Tim would have been a fool to turn her down. Even with their current situation, knowing that Lucy felt just as he did, it was hard to even think about doing that. It felt right having her in his arms. If he were being honest with himself, it felt more like home than any other relationship he’d had, including Isabelle.

“Get in the truck. I’ll give you a ride home. We can talk on the way,” Tim said. He was unable to help himself and gave her one more, small kiss before letting her slide back down flat footed to the pavement.

“Lucy?”

She shook her head slightly, looking back down at him. “You were a million miles away. What’s up?”

Lucy chuckled, leaning down to give him a quick kiss. “Just thinking about the night that this all happened.” She couldn’t stifle the yawn after that. “Maybe we should go to bed. We’ve got a long day of staying in and being a cutesy, secret couple indoors tomorrow.”

Tim couldn’t help but chuckle. He knew there would be a time when they could let people know that they were together, but he was enjoying their honeymoon phase in their own little bubble. He knew that the newness of their relationship gave it this glow of seeming perfection, a bubble that would have to be burst, but Tim couldn’t even remember his relationship with Isabelle being this good. They had little spats like any couple did, but there was something in Lucy that just brought out the best in him, that made him want to be better.

“Probably a good idea,” he said, sitting up and glancing at Lucy’s alarm clock. Standing off the bed, he grabbed his discarded shirt from their earlier activities, throwing it to her. As she pulled it over her head, he crawled in next to her, holding his arms open for her. “It’s past my bedtime anyway.”

“Do you need me to get you a glass of warm milk?” Lucy asked, laughing at her own joke. She snuggled up into his side, tangling their legs and resting her head on his chest.

“You’re gonna pay for that,” he replied half-heartedly. He could already feel himself drifting off. He barely felt Lucy reach across him to turn off her bedside lamp. “Night, Luce.”

“Goodnight, Tim,” she said with a kiss to his chest.

* * *

Tim had been awake for about twenty minutes. Of those twenty minutes, he had really needed to use the bathroom for about ten of them. The only thing stopping him was the content look on Lucy’s face as she slept. Even all these months after her kidnapping, Lucy had a nightmare every now and again. So, any night that didn’t end in her thrashing in terror was one he liked to savor. His fingers brushed through her hair softly, wanting to keep her lulled in her peaceful sleep as long as possible, but it was getting harder to ignore that he had to go. Forcing himself to get started on his day, though they really didn’t have much planned, Tim slowly extracted himself from Lucy’s arms. He counted it a victory when she didn’t stir.

After using the bathroom and washing his hands, Tim stepped back into the room quietly. He slipped his sweatpants over his legs before going into the main living area of the apartment to start making coffee for the two of them. As he listened to the coffeemaker come to life, Lucy’s words from the night before hung in his head. He remembered what happened after their first kiss. It hadn’t taken much convincing on her end that they should give this a try. He knew how she kissed; he couldn’t go back to not kissing her. It was the closest to home he had felt in a long time. Everything about her felt that way to him. He had made the point that while there were technically no rules against it, the fact that he had been her training officer would automatically put a black mark on their relationship to their fellow officers. She’d come right back, telling him that it was worth the risk. Having Lucy tell him about her relationship with Nolan not long after that, that he hadn’t been worth it but Tim was, made his heart soar, and he couldn’t deny the feelings that had been growing for months any longer.

Small arms encircled his waist from behind, and a smile broke out on Tim’s face. Starting every day with just him and Lucy, enjoying the morning, slowly waking up, just taking it all in, was something he could get used to, easily. “Good morning,” he heard her say, her voice quiet with sleep. Turning in her arms, he wrapped his around her in turn. “You weren’t there when I woke up.”

“Good morning. I was going to bring you coffee in bed,” he replied, leaning down to get a kiss, but she pulled away before their lips could meet. “What?”

“I have morning breath,” she said sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.

Before she could say anything, Tim had his arms wrapped fully under her thighs, setting her down on the edge of the island in her kitchen, standing confidently between her thighs. “Lucy, I plan on being around you for a lot of mornings. I don’t care if you have morning breath. Because when you look like this,” he implied, looking her up and down, “wearing my shirt with your hair still slightly sexed, I’m going to want to kiss you.”

Before she could say any sort of come back, Tim swooped in, pulling her close and pressing his lips to hers. It was so easy to get lost in her. Even wearing his shirt, he could still smell what was distinctly her, and it was overpowering. Pulling away from her mouth, he trailed his lips down the side of her neck, peppering kisses along every inch of skin he could find there. When he got to that little, sensitive spot right below her ear, he had to pay attention to it as much as possible, the noises coming from her too intoxicating to make him quit.

Tim was going to drive her absolutely crazy. He wasn’t allowed to say things like that and then kiss her just to shut her up, but damn her if it wasn’t the most amazing feeling in the world. Lucy could easily get used to waking up to him in her bed every day. Maybe not even just her bed. It felt too early to be thinking like that, but the four months they had been together felt more like four years. Riding together for twelve hours at a time for eighteen month got you pretty close to someone but with how she was feeling, Lucy wasn’t going to complain.

Tim turned her neck to the side to get better access to her neck, lining her vision up with the door, as well as everything around it. It really wasn’t something she was focused on at first, Tim keeping her almost fully distracted. Almost. It was then that she noticed them, tucked neatly by the doorway. She knew they weren’t there the night before, and through the haze in her brain, it took her a few seconds to recognize them. _Are those Jackson’s shoes?_

Almost as soon as the thought popped into her brain, the door on the other side of the apartment opened. “Lucy why are you making coffee this ear—oh my god! My eyes!” Jackson’s voice carried across the apartment, and it was like dumping a bucket of ice water over her head. “Lucy what the… Bradford?”

“Jackson!” Lucy pushed Tim back just enough for her to hop off the counter. Her bare thighs tried to stick to the countertop, leaving them stinging slightly. “It’s not what it looks like!” She winced at her words, trying so hard to keep their bubble from bursting.

Jackson couldn’t look at them, his eyes half covered. “Really? Because it looks like you were making out with your former training officer,” he yelled, sparing her a glance only to groan and turn away completely. “For the love of everything, pull down your shirt. God, Lucy, we eat off that counter.”

Lucy barely had to glance down to see Tim’s shirt she was wearing had ridden up slightly to reveal she’d been wearing absolutely nothing. Yanking the hem of it down, Lucy could feel her face getting redder and redder. “Oh my god, I’m going to die. This is not how you were supposed to find out.” It finally hit Lucy that Jackson was home far earlier than she’d expected. “What are you even doing here? You weren’t supposed to come back until Sunday night.”

“Oh no! Don’t try to change the subject,” Jackson said, turning his head slightly to make sure it was safe to look. Once he saw they were both slightly out of their compromising positions, he turned and motioned his finger between the two of them. “How long has this been going on? Since you got kidnapped? Because that would explain a lot.”

Both Tim’s and Lucy’s eyebrows furrowed, wondering what that could possibly mean. Their relationship had been entirely platonic while she’d been his rookie. Sure, they had gotten close, but Lucy never thought anyone would read into it romantically. “What? No.”

“It just happened,” Tim said.

“Four months,” Lucy replied, speaking at the same time as Tim, knowing she wasn’t the best at lying. She looked up at Tim with a questioning look. “What?”

Tim shrugged. “I was trying to save you some grief, Boot.”

“That nickname is helping way less, at the moment,” Lucy sighed. She took in a deep breath, looking up at Jackson and taking a step forward. “Jackson, I’m sorry you had to find out this way. We just wanted to keep it between the two of us while we could. He didn’t want me to look bad, and I just wanted everyone out of our business for a while.” Her eyes widened as it fully hit her that someone else finally knew. “Jackson, you can’t tell anyone at work. Not a soul. Not Angela. Not John. Nobody!”

Jackson held his hands up in defense. “I won’t say anything. You have my word. Maybe I’ll wake up in my bed and this will all be a dream.”

Lucy looked up at Tim when he stepped closer to her, smiling lovingly. “Kinda feels that way sometimes.”

Jackson made a face, scrunching it and sticking out his tongue slightly. “Oh god. Now I have to deal with this corniness? You’re still in the lovey dovey phase.”

Moving her gaze back to him, Lucy gave him a small glare. “Don’t act like there weren’t nights I had to make myself scarce or spend most of my free time in my room because you and Sterling couldn’t quit making heart eyes at each other long enough to pay attention to much else. I think you’ll survive.” Another thought struck her, and Lucy couldn’t stop her face from lighting up. “Oh! We can do double dates! And it’s perfect because we both have to stay indoors since we can’t be seen together in public.”

Lucy could tell both the guys wanted to say no, but when she pouted ever so slightly, she knew they would have to give in and take her up on it.

“Sure,” Tim replied begrudgingly.

“Yeah. It could be…fun.”

Lucy chuckled. “It will be fun. I promise! Oh! I have the perfect idea for the first one.”

She went on and on for a few minutes, walking around the kitchen while she talked. She grabbed her coffee and started pulling ingredients from the fridge to make breakfast for all three of them. There was no denying the feeling of relief deep in her chest at the fact that someone else finally knew their secret. As much as she wanted their bubble to last as long as it could, it was still mostly intact. Jackson knowing only meant they didn’t have to sneak around in her apartment. If it meant a little less stress for her, she was honestly fine with it.

After breakfast had been eaten and cleaned up, Lucy announced she was going downstairs to get the mail.

Jackson turned to look at Tim from his spot on the couch. “Listen,” he said, almost as soon as the door had closed. It had been a thought nagging at the back of his head since he’d found out. “I care about Lucy a lot. You know as well as I do what she’s been through. I don’t want to see her get hurt. So, if this is some sort of Rachel rebound or a midlife crisis of some kind, cut the cord now. I can tell she’s already in deep, but she might be salvageable before it gets any farther.”

Tim sat up straighter in the chair sitting on the other side of the living area. He was honestly taken aback. Jackson had mentioned he thought they could have been together since her kidnapping. He had to know this wasn’t just a fling. “I have no intentions of doing any of that. Rachel and I broke up because of how I feel about Lucy. I’m not just in this for an ego boost or a good time. I’m in this for the long haul. Lucy means more to me than I can even describe. What we have,” Tim started, thinking back over, not just the last four months, but the last year and a half that they’d been riding together. “I think what we have could be the real deal. I didn’t even feel this strongly or passionately with my ex-wife. I look at her, and I see a bright, happy future that looked to be pretty bleak before she came into my life. Lucy… She’s just it.”

Jackson sighed in relief. He knew that everything Tim said was true; he’d just needed to hear it. “Good. Lucy deserves to be happy, and she looks pretty happy.” He leaned back in his seat, chuckling to himself. “Plus, I don’t know if I have enough of an intimidating presence to threaten you.”

“You don’t have to worry, West. I plan to stick around for as long as she’ll have me. Even then, I might be hard to get rid of.” Tim now knew what it was like to have Lucy in his life in a romantic capacity. He didn’t know if he could go to life without her. That thought didn’t scare him as much as he thought it would.

The door opened not long after, Lucy looking through the stack of mail as she walked on autopilot over to Tim, taking a seat in his lap. She heard Jackson groan, mumbling something about apologizing to Sterling. Saying he’d be back later, Jackson was out the door just a few minutes later. “Guess he’s still gotta get used to this.”

“He’s got time,” Tim mumbled, placing his lips to her neck as she continued to look through the mail. This was easily something he could get used to. “He gave me the big brother spiel. Told me I needed to cut the cord if I was going to break your heart.”

Lucy smiled, placing the mail on the coffee table before turning back to Tim, she took his face in her hand, smoothing her thumbs over his cheeks. It was so easy to get lost in his eyes sometimes, storm clouds and oceans swirling in them. She could see the love and admiration he held for her bubbling at the surface of them, and she couldn’t help but smile. “Are you gonna break my heart?” She asked, one of her thumbs brushing his lower lip lightly.

Tim’s head moved so minutely that if she hadn’t been so close to it, she might have missed it. “No ma’am,” he whispered as his hand came up to cup the back of her head, bringing her in for a kiss.

Lucy let him, brushing her lips lightly against his. “Good.”


	2. the best friend

Tim was running late, and if were anyone else, Angela wouldn’t be so worried. They had been running together every Saturday morning since Isabel had gone into the rehab and recovery center, and even when he didn’t feel his best, Tim was always at least on time, or more often than not, he beat her to their usual meeting spot. _Maybe traffic is just worse this morning,_ Angela reasoned, though she knew it wasn’t true. The trail they ran on was outside the bustle of the city and not far from their respective houses. She thought about the date and couldn’t think of any significance as to why he would be running behind. Worry wasn’t usually her go to, and if something bad had happened, Tim would have called her, but when fifteen minutes turned to thirty, it was hard not to. _It was a long shift yesterday. Maybe he overslept._ She gave him another ten minutes to show up, and when they passed with no sign of him, she got in her car and headed in the direction of his house.

As she drove, Angela told her phone to call Tim. When the call went straight to voicemail, her brows furrowed more in confusion. Tim never let his phone die, and he never turned it off. Something bad was up; she could just feel it in her gut. Her mind wandered to the worst possibilities of Tim injuring himself home alone and not being able to reach his phone or a break in gone bad. She nixed the latter option; the idea of Tim being caught off guard by a burglar making her chuckle. Though, not answering his phone and being obscenely late by his standards was also out of character. When she pulled up across the street from his house, his truck was parked outside the garage and the front door was shut; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She was starting to think oversleeping was the culprit more and more.

She knew where he hid his spare key, walking over to the post on the far side of his porch, moving the thermometer sensor to the side, the key nestled into a hole drilled behind it. Taking it in hand, she walked to the door and opened it as quietly as she could, closing it just the same once she was inside. Angela planned to secure his off duty weapon, then give him the rudest awakening she could think of for making her worry and wait so long. Making her way to the kitchen to get a bowl of cold water, Angela stopped in her tracks when she saw none other than Lucy Chen in the kitchen, dressed in an oversized Rams t-shirt and leggings, making breakfast. Lucy must have heard her.

“That was fast. What did that little perv have to say for—” Lucy said, cutting herself off when she turned to see Angela standing there. Her face paled immediately. “An-Angela… I can explain.”

Angela couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “I’ll bet you can.” Motioning for her to come up with whatever lame excuse she could, Angela crosses her arms, looking on amused.

“I’m…house sitting for Tim. He had to go out of town unexpectedly after his shift last night. Said he needed someone to keep an eye on the place.” Almost as if to help her out, Cojo came bounding in the kitchen, sitting at her feet. “And Cojo! He needed me to watch Cojo.”

Angela gave her a smug face, looking her up and down. “Uh huh. And is that your Rams t-shirt?” She asked, trying not to laugh even more at her friend’s lame excuse. They both knew whose shirt Lucy was wearing.

Lucy’s eyes widened as she looked down, as if completely forgetting that she was very obviously wearing Tim’s shirt, before she looked back up, trying to remain calm. “Oh yeah. I love me some football.”

Nodding her head slightly, Angela continued to try and go along with it for as long as she could without breaking. “Oh yeah? Who’s their quarterback?”

Angela could almost see Lucy think, _oh shit_ , cogs turning behind her eyes as she tried to remember any team member that Tim might have mentioned in the last year and a half. She could see a vague idea come to her head. “Golf…”

Angela was ready to burst into laughter when the front door opened and shut loudly. She couldn’t wait for Tim to walk in and watch him squirm, too. They both heard his keys hit the bowl by the door. “I talked to the kid’s dad, and he’s not happy. I watched the kid delete the pictures myself. Heard his dad yelling as I walked out the door.” He had bypassed the kitchen and gone to the bedroom, obviously thinking she was still there. “Lucy?”

“In the kitchen,” she said with a squeak, leaning over the counter and putting her head in her hands.

“Are you okay? I promise I’ll get better blinds for the bedroom,” Tim said, seeing her distressed before his attention was pulled to the person on the other side of the kitchen, stopping him in his tracks. “Shit.”

“Shit is right. You were supposed to meet me at the trail an hour ago,” Angela said, holding up her watch. “I thought something bad had happened to you! You could have at the very least called to say you’d be late or that you weren’t coming at all.” She looked back over to Lucy before giving Tim a smirk.

“I forgot to charge my phone last night, and we’ve had a very dramatic morning.” Tim began to defend himself, before he stopped, looking back between the two women in his kitchen. “Wait. Why are you freaking out more about me being late than finding Lucy in my kitchen? You’re oddly calm about this.”

“Oh this? I’ve known about you two for months.” Angela looked at him as if it were obvious. “Actually, I think I’ve probably known since the beginning. It was the night Lucy found out you and Rachel had broken up. I mean, I knew it was only a matter of time before you two slipped up. Just never thought I’d walk in on anything.”

Lucy’s head popped up from where it had been resting in her hands. “Since the beginning? How the hell have you known that long?”

* * *

“He’s not out there yet, Mamá.”

“Well keep looking, mija! He’s out there every single day, without fail!” Her mother yelled from the kitchen. “Él es asqueroso!”

Angela rolled her eyes and looked out the window of her mother’s house, keeping a close eye on her neighbor’s house across the street. According to her mother, the neighbor would watch people from his window, his porch, his garage, occasionally even having a camera, taking pictures of especially the younger women around the neighborhood. Her mother didn’t have enough evidence to officially call the police yet, which Angela knew was why she’d been lured under the false pretense of a delicious breakfast to spy on said spying neighbor. Angela could feel her eyes rolling involuntarily as she continued peeking out the blinds.

Her mother came padding into the living room, steaming coffee cup in hand. “Just the way you like it.”

She couldn’t help but smile lovingly, taking the cup from her and taking a sip. Store bought or not, no one made anything quite as good as her mom. “Thanks.”

Pulling the blinds up just enough to be able to see unhindered as she took a seat next to the window, Angela spotted something else that caught her attention immediately. Just barely down the street sat what looked to be Lucy’s car. The young officer had left the bar in a hurry the night before after she’d accidentally let it slip that Tim had broken up with Rachel months ago. It wasn’t fully her fault. How was she supposed to know Lucy had no idea? Tim had rushed out not long after her, muttering a sarcastic thanks in her direction as he stomped toward the door. She had tried to call Tim to apologize, but every time she called, it would ring once before being sent to voicemail. She had sent Lucy a text but hadn’t received a reply from her either. Neither seemed to want to talk, and she understood that. It was curious to her that Lucy’s car would be parked on this street; Angela knew where she and Jackson lived. It was at least four blocks away, if not more. With Lucy’s luck, her classic car had broken down once again, leaving her to walk home.

Angela had other things to do than worry about than the two of them, though. Her mother needed her to keep an eye out for a supposed Peeping Tom, and that’s what she was trying to do before a familiar truck came up the road, pulling to a stop behind Lucy’s car. Not a couple of seconds later, Lucy appeared from the passenger side, laughing joyfully, wearing the same clothes from the night before. She moved to her car, unlocking the door and leaning in to pull the hood latch. A moment later, Tim stepped out of the driver’s side, tool chest in hand, to look under the hood. The biggest smile Angela had ever seen on him graced Tim’s face as he said something to Lucy that she couldn’t make out. Someone who didn’t know the pair would think they had just made up from the night before, but Angela knew better. The two had been dancing around each other long before Tim stopped being Lucy’s TO.

Tim sauntered up to Lucy, leaning down as Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him the best kiss possible when both parties couldn’t seem to stop smiling. If she’d seen two random people on the street being so affectionate, Angela would probably pretend to vomit. However, knowing the pair as well as she did, and the hardships they’d both gone through, together and apart, Angela felt her chest warm at the sight. They looked as happy as any couple she’d ever seen, and if anyone deserved some happiness, it was those two. Watching the two of them together, Angela decided she’d keep their secret for as long as they needed, even if they had no clue she even knew in the first place.

* * *

“Gotta be honest, though. I’m surprised you haven’t been caught by anyone else yet. I mean,” Angela chuckled, “you two are about as subtle as a brick to the face. It’s a good thing you don’t work around a bunch of detectives. Oh wait.”

Tim rolled his eyes, half sitting on one of the barstools next to his kitchen island. “We’re extremely professional at the workplace. This doesn’t get in the way of us doing our jobs. Ask yourself if you hadn’t known before, would you have guessed we were together.”

Angela knew the answer; in fact, she had been rather impressed with how professional they had kept themselves on the job. There had been several times in the last few months where one was in a sticky situation and the other wasn’t there to be their back up. They always kept to the priority of life code, looking out for civilians before themselves or others. “You’re right, but that doesn’t mean you can start to slack off.” Turning to Lucy, pointing to her and making her stand up straight. “You have only been a PO II for eight months. Dating a superior will haunt your career if you don’t do this the right way.”

“I know, and we have a plan,” Lucy said, walking over to Tim, moving under his welcoming arm to form to his side, like that was where she belonged. “Plus, he’s kind of worth it.”

Tim made a face at her, trying to hold back a laugh. “Only kind of?”

“I gotta keep your ego in check somehow, mister,” Lucy replied, her face practically glowing.

Angela couldn’t help but grin at the two as they basically forgot she was there. She knew how much the both of them had been through before coming together. It warmed her heart that the two could find happiness in one another after so much darkness and heartache. “You guys are so sweet, I could puke,” she joked, breaking their little moment.

“Tim Bradford is not sweet,” he countered, giving Angela a pointed look.

Lucy rolled her eyes, her hand resting at the bottom of his neck. “Yes, you are. Shut up.”

Tim started to open his mouth to say something before Angela cut him off. “As much as I’m sure this is going to turn into a tooth-rotting cute moment, I’m still going for a run. You’re still welcome to join me. You, too, Lucy, if you want.”

Lucy waved her off. “No, no. You two go on ahead. I need to go home and do laundry anyway.” Before stepping away from Tim, she leaned down to plant a kiss to the corner of his mouth, leaving Tim grinning at her. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” With that, Lucy grabbed her bag from the rack behind the door and gave Cojo a rub between the ears before closing the door behind her.

Angela turned to Tim, unable to stop her laugh at the smitten look on his face. “Damn, Bradford. You’ve got it bad.”

Tim looked back at her, shaking his head as he chuckled, standing from the stool. “She’s pretty great.” He knew he was unable to deny how he felt, seeming almost relieved not to have to hide it from another person. He turned to her, looking on sternly. “I trust I don’t have to ask you to keep this a secret?”

Angela shook her head, smiling happily at her friend. In some respects, he was her best friend, and after everything he had been through with Isabel and that heartache, she only wanted the best for Tim. She hadn’t been blind to the changes in Tim since the day she saw him kissing Lucy. He was less aggressive, wasn’t as quick to anger, and was even more considerate and sympathetic on the tough calls. “I’ve kept your secret for six months, Tim. I’m not about to blow it for you now. I take it she’s why you decided to not be a TO for this round of recruits.”

Tim shrugged, rubbing the top of Cojo’s head as he walked over at sat at Tim’s feet. “That’s part of the reason. I wanted to be able to have her back when I could. I also didn’t want to start teaching another rookie only to have a sergeant position open up and have to stick them with someone else.” He walked over to his fridge then, grabbing the bottle he took on runs beginning to fill it.

“That’s fair,” Angela replied before her voice got serious. “I’m sure I’m beating a dead horse. I have to warn you, though. I wouldn’t be doing my job as either of your friends if I didn’t. If it comes out before it’s appropriate, it’ll haunt her career. It may not follow you around, but it will follow her, no matter how you try to spin it. So, just be careful.”

Tim finally turned around, taking a sip of water. “That it?” He asked casually. He was letting Lucy’s words from earlier answer for him. _You don’t have to worry about us_ , his eyes said.

“Pretty much. That and I’m happy for you two. You guys seem genuinely happy together. You both deserve it. Now,” Angela finished, rattling her keys in the air, “let’s go for that run. I’ll drive.”

Tim shook his head, chuckling at her as he followed her to the door. “I’m capable of driving myself to the canyon.”

“I don’t know about that. You might accidentally take a wrong turn and end up at Lucy’s place,” Angela jabbed, waiting for Tim as he licked his front door behind them, unable to hold back teasing him now that it was out that she was in the know. “By the way, what was the talk of a perv when I walked in?”

Tim shook his head, huffing in anger. Taking a seat in Angela’s car, he pulled a little too hard on the seatbelt, making it lock up. “The neighbor’s son was taking pictures of us through a broken blind on our bedroom window while we were…”

“Got it. Say no more,” she laughed, waving her hand at him before starting her car. Then his words registered even more. “ _Our_ bedroom? Damn, Bradford. You’ve got it _bad_.”


End file.
